Upgrade Path from SLI 6800GT

[Rick_Barnes]

7900 GTs are about £200 and 7900GTXs are around £340, the only thing seperating the cards are the core speeds, the memory speeds (both of which can be addressed with overclocking) , the memory size (256/512) and the cooler.

From what ive read around the various review sites, 7900's are more than enough for most resoloutions unless you are running a BIG CRT or LCD. If you want to pump image quality, perhaps a x1900XT would be a better bet, as it can do HDR and FSAA, which can put to work some of the horse power that otherwise may remain idle.

 

[TALON1973]

sorry i'm not really up to speed with the nvidia side of things, but for SLI to work doesn't the game have to be supported by the drivers that nvidia release ?

also it all depends what type of game you like playing. not much point going SLI if all your playing is RTS.

 

[easyrider]

7900 GTs are about £200 and 7900GTXs are around £340, the only thing seperating the cards are the core speeds, the memory speeds (both of which can be addressed with overclocking) , the memory size (256/512) and the cooler.

The GT uses 1.4ns memory.
The GTX uses 1.1ns memory

A GT will never be a GTX however far you clock it.

 

[Kaiju]

I'm in the same boat. After a few days of research on whether 7900GT's are a more viable option to a 7900GTX/X1900XT, it's a hands down win for the single card solutions.

a) Upgradability (dependant on mobo, you'll still have the option to go Xfire or SLI further down the line, Vista and DX10 isn't for quite some time and even then it's not evidentally a surefire hit)
b) Price point (the 7900GTX/X1900XT will be cheaper come September with the R600/G80 being released, while the 7900GT SLi option is still more expensive than a single card solution at the moment)
c) Functionality (X1900XT has HDR+AA available, 2x256MB cards will never equal 512MB single card solutions)
d) Heat (far more heat involved with a two card design)
e) Power (more power consumption with a two card design)
f) Noise (more noise pollution with a two card design)

The ONLY positive is braggin' rights from voltmoddin' your SLi spec in your case. Sure the 7900GT SLi right now can overclock and attain better benches than a 7900GTX/X1900XT, but not by much. The points i made above clearly indicate that in a few weeks/months you will be kickin' yourself.

 

[Flying_Nut]

Hmmm thanks for the input Jet especially.

So, the only question left really is will two 7900GTXs actually fit on a Gigabyte SLI mobo as a possible future upgrade path given the size of the damn things...???!!

I thought PC upgrading was supposed to be fun....???!!

 

[Kaiju]

No problems.

Here's a review with 7900GTX's in SLI on a Gigabyte board. I'm unsure as to what model you have however.

Review Link

 

[The Running Man]

just get a 7900GT... its really cheap, and really good performance. and not much worse than a 7900GTX, certainly not the price difference!

besides if it idnt enough come xmas or whatever, jus grab another 7900GT and go SLI

7900GTX sli, is a waste of money imo.

 

[man_from_uncle]

The ONLY positive is braggin' rights from voltmoddin' your SLi spec in your case. Sure the 7900GT SLi right now can overclock and attain better benches than a 7900GTX/X1900XT, but not by much. The points i made above clearly indicate that in a few weeks/months you will be kickin' yourself.

That's not really fair. My single 7900gt was beating most 7900gtx/X1900s once i'd volt modded it. I've gone SLi now and am yet to do the volt mod on my second card, but i'd be surprised if I couldn't beat either 2x7900gtx's or 2 x X1900s (at thier stock speeds at least) once I get the ink out.

 

[Kaiju]

It's also worth mentioning that to really take advantage of SLI/XFire on the 7900/X1900 series you would need to run 1600x1200+. You will also need a fast 2.6GHz+ CPU (FX60 for example) to visually notice any FPS improvements in either category. Benches at the moment are very CPU limited when it comes to simple pixel shaders that calculate fractal or does some sort of procedural texturing.

In my view ATi wins hands down with more pixel shader orientated games á la Oblivion as it simply has more pixel shaders.

 

[man_from_uncle]

It's also worth mentioning that to really take advantage of SLI/XFire on the 7900/X1900 series you would need to run 1600x1200+. You will also need a fast 2.6GHz+ CPU (FX60 for example) to visually notice any FPS improvements in either category. Benches at the moment are very CPU limited when it comes to simple pixel shader that calculates fractal or does some sort of procedural texturing.

It depends what game you are playing, but that is a fair point (especially with Oblivion). If you are thinking about getting 2x7900gtxs but you only run a 3500+, get 2x7900gts (or a single card option) and a better processor instead. Even with 2 overclocked 7900gts I can stare at a wall in certain city scenes (lots of AI, lots of physics) in Oblivion and not get 30 fps.

 

[Kaiju]

That's not really fair. My single 7900gt was beating most 7900gtx/X1900s once i'd volt modded it. I've gone SLi now and am yet to do the volt mod on my second card, but i'd be surprised if I couldn't beat either 2x7900gtx's or 2 x X1900s (at thier stock speeds at least) once I get the ink out.

Apologies man_from_uncle, i weren't slating the 7900GT as it's a great price/performance purchase at the moment and it certainly has it's place in the market.

You are forgetting to mention however that the 7900GT is still only a 256MB card. It also serves the hassle of having to voltmod and for someone unexperienced this can be a perilous task. X1900XT and 7900GTX's can also be overclocked too.

Combined with the added heat, noise and power consumption it's kinda hard to fault a single card solution here.

 

[man_from_uncle]

I'll give you the memory limit. Sure, I can beat the bigger cards at 1280x1024 and below, but at 1600x1200 they'll pull ahead regardless of how I overclock.

As a counter-point though, the X1900s and 7900gtxs don't overclock well by comparison at all. People are struggling to get some 7900gtxs stable at sub XXX speeds and the X1900s require a lot of expensive cooling (and power) to reach their potential. And don't think for a second that the extra cooling that overclocked gts need necessitates noise. If it wasn't for the lights my PC would look like it was off, and even when I put them to max (which i do for gaming) it's still quieter than any PC i've owned. Quieter i'd guess than a single X1900.

EDIT: I don't know why i'm arguing. There are some clear advantages to a single top of the range 512mb card over any 2 card solution.

 

[Flying_Nut]

Okay chaps, next dilema OCUK appear to have run out of BFG 7900GTX OC cards, which was most likely going to be my single card selection!

Can anyone recommend a good alternative brand, are Asus better than Leadtek etc? Akso, if I do add a second one later (in SLI) - does it need to be absolutely identical these days (e.g. if the first is the BFG OC'd one- can the second card be an ordinary 'vanilla' 7900GTX)?

Of the range stocked by OCUK, which would you recommend as being the best and most reliable etc. please?

 

[easyrider]

I have the asus

@ 700/1800

3 yr warranty

and no it doesn't matter about the cards in SLI.
The new driver sorted that.

 

[Kaiju]

After BFG, i'd go EVGA without a shadow of a doubt. Lifetime warranty, how can you go wrong. All you really need do is search "Best 7900GTX" on Google and your sorted.